There are no safety checks on products entering the EU. Everything relies
on manufacturers' declarations of conformity, which are pretty meaningless
when genuine, and often completely fictitious.

well I thought that too (otherwise just how does all the Chinese crap get
through?)

But one of the official requests from HMG (to the EU) is that products which
are already CE approved on leaving date should not have to be re-approved -
as that, apparently "takes months and costs thousands" (per product), and I
thought "does it really!?"